Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Although their not "state-of-the-art", The built in Mail, Calendar and People Apps, are a nice to have feature that comes with Windows 8.

They have very simple usage and are all connected with the Microsoft Live Services so with a Windows Phone you have seamlessly access to all the content.
Yesterday Microsoft launched an update to this 3 apps.

Mail App

Filter by All Unread e-mail

Filter by Flagged e-mail

"Smart contact suggestions" when writing a new e-mail

E-mail search on server (hotmail.com/outlook.com) instead off local search, if needed

In the last 2 or 3 years, I've been an huge fan of cloud computing and all the benefits that come with it.
I can now change from my laptop,to my desktop or my smartphone and get access to all my information, favorites and specially...my documents.

Microsoft's SkyDrive it's an excellent cloud application that provides access to all the information and it's integrated on the Microsoft Live ecosystem.

This is my main repository (25GB) and my hard drive it's just used to temporary work. This allow me to have a very complete experience of cloud computing and work everywhere since I've a browser.

So, let's focus a little bit on some tips for using Microsoft SkyDrive:

Windows 8 App
Although I'm not a huge fan (for now) of Windows 8 Apps, the SkyDrive App it's a nice one, for some features like photo viewing, quick edit documents, etc.

For example, you can change your Windows 8 lock screen image, with one that you have on your Skydrive.
To do this:

Go to PC Settings

Personalize

Browse

On the drop down list, select SkyDrive

Choose your image, and it's done

As simple as that.

Redirect Your Desktop to SkyDrive

This makes the experience of cloud computing even better.

Imagine you're working on something on your desktop, or you have a lot of shortcuts there, and you want to access them easily on any computer or laptop.

Then, follow this:

Go to your user folder (usually C:\Users\username)

Right-click on it and select Properties

Select Location tab

Move the folder to your SkyDrive

Done.

User the SkyDrive for Windows Application

Although the Windows 8 App it's fine at some level, the SkyDrive for Windows can give you a lot more flexibility since you'll see and access your file more easily from the Windows Explorer menus.